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doodle plate

At the end of last year, I was asked to create a sample plate for the art studio I frequent that has a pottery painting section for their customers. Of course, I was thrilled to have a chance to paint more pottery since it is now my obsession! Choosing fall like colors, I sponged about 4 different colors onto the plate (which is a really fast way to get your glaze on the bisque). Of course, I sponged about three layers of color for each spot and waited until it was completely dry before I took a water soluble marker to draw out my doodle design I had in mind. Once it is placed in the kiln, the ink from the marker will burn off and you won’t see any trace of the lines. If you make a mistake in your line work (which you see below), it will not affect your final piece.

Didn’t want to get too carried away with the doodle since customers may try to mimic the plate. I wanted to try out one of the dark green glazes instead of using black on top of the autumn colors, but I was a little worried that it wouldn’t be strong enough to go over top of the other glazes. Just in case, I went over the lines three times to make them as dark as possible.

Work in Progress: Sample Plate

Above is what your pottery will look like after you have covered it in glaze but you haven’t fired it. The colors will always be more on the pastel side at the beginning. Once they have been placed in the kiln the colors will become more vibrant.

It turned out beautifully! I loved how textured the background ended up being because of using a natural sponge to place the color onto the plate. In the final image, the dark green looks black, but it did turn out well. It has been at the studio for several months now, and it has been cool to pop into the studio and see it hanging on the wall.

This summer, my bestie and I went to a store where you could paint pottery and make candles. After the first mug I painted, I was hooked and my artist fire had been lit! I found out my local art studio also had pottery painting available so in August, I decided to stop by and check it out. As soon as I walked through the doors, they were incredibly welcoming and the space was the perfect place to create.

MY POTTERY PAINTING PROCESS

The item I chose to paint was this a lovely round plate. I decided to experiment with multiple colors of glaze as a base. It took a very long time to paint because you need to do about 3 coats of the color to make sure it doesn’t show brushstrokes after it is fired. It was hard to make sure your third coat was strong on the edges of the shapes I was creating. I had to wait for the background to dry before I could use a water-soluble marker to draw my doodles. When I tried to draw on it before it had dried, it pulled up the glaze.

When I was able to stop in another day, I freehanded my doodle flowers onto the plate using the water-soluble marker. I wanted to cover it in flowers, but I realized it was going to take a lot of brush work to make sure it was all outlined. One of the gals, Megan, had suggested I use a bottle that came to a point (reminds you of those puffy paint bottles but it is full of glaze). It was hard at first because I was having trouble controlling how much glaze came out of the bottle, but it was complete in a matter of minutes.

After a week, I was able to pick up the plate and I was excited to see how it turned out. When you first paint the glaze, it is more pastel in color than what it will really be after it has been glazed and fired. It was definitely more colorful than before, but the lines bled a little because of using the bottle of glaze. It does create slightly raised lines too which makes the plate feel neat, but I still say it was a successful experiment!